When would you give up?

[ancee]

How long do you leave it after sowing seeds before you decide they haven't worked?
I've sowed on the same day (and according to seed suppliers instructions)
Tomato gardeners delight t and m
Aubergines (lidl)
Tomatillo purple sensation I think (real seeds)
Aquilegia pink ebay
Aquilegia giant ebay
Salvia pratensis t and m
Cauliflower Mr fothergill
White yarrow t and m
Salvia nemarosa t and m
Cow parsley t and m
Sweet peas my garden.

So far I have one sweet pea!
Should I give them a few more weeks or dump them and start again? They're on the warm sunny windowsill draft free and warmed by the radiator, their soil is moist not waterlogged. I am baffled! My one sweet pea shoot is giving me hope, but is it false hope?!  they've been in approx a month

[Scarlet]

Is that warm sunny windowsill draft free and warm at night? I think it's best if you put them somewhere warm without the ups and downs. They may come but I'd be starting off some more. Early for toms though?

[Thelma Sanders]

Try moving them away from the window at night, cos they will get cold every night and we have had some really cold nights lately

The flowers probably won't mind too much, but probably will not actually germinate til it warms up - but the aubergine and tomatoes won't like it at all.


Great minds think alike, Scarlet

[Bigmallly]

See if you can pick up a cheap electric propagator ancee. It should stabilise their germination temp.

[Python15]

Is that warm sunny windowsill draft free and warm at night? I think it's best if you put them somewhere warm without the ups and downs. They may come but I'd be starting off some more. Early for toms though?

Is it too early for Tom's? I was away to pot mine tomorrow. If too early then when is a good time? I always seem to end up getting my Tom's late in the season so I thought I'd try a month earlier this year.

[Kristen]

How long do you leave it after sowing seeds before you decide they haven't worked?

What min / max temperature are they getting? If you have a min/max thermometer I would put it along side the seed trays (cover with something so it isn't in direct sun and goes off the scale!). I suspect they are not warm enough, or "cooking" in the sun (if the seed containers have clear plastic lids)

I always seem to end up getting my Tom's late in the season so I thought I'd try a month earlier this year.

My question would be how you will look after the plants until they can go out. They need min 10C - I don't put mine out into unheated greenhouse until May (I know others put them out before then). I plant my Tomato seeds in February, but I bring them on with artificial light supplement (February light is weak still, although better than January!) and in heated conservatory ... the plants are 4' high by the time they go out, which would be a challenge if all you have, for example, is a windowsill!

Chums did an experiment of early sowing and "regular" sowing in March, and got less than one weeks earlier cropping from the earlier sowing, and concluded it was not worth it!

I reckon you need extra light & heat for an early sowing to actually make any [i.e. significant] difference to the start of cropping.

[Scarlet]

^^^as Kristen has said really. I've got a GH (unheated) but even so most of my toms are started in March earlier sowings can get leggy and struggle without light ( but I do like to set off 2 or 3 early ones to see how they go ) Even with March sowings, come May when we can still get frosts I'm carting them to and fro the GH some nights - or if it's not too cold, wrapping them up in a little fleece.

[arpoet]

Have you got some dodgy compost? Was the compost too cold when your sowed the seeds?

[ancee]

I no longer have a poly tunnel as it sadly died in last years storms. So have had to do with the best windowsill in the house! I have now added an extension of two chests of drawers and a towel. The radiator is under the windowsill and behind the drawers. At night I pull the curtains around the front of the chests and the radiator goes off and on all night. So, you are all right, the temperature is intermittent. Not sure what i can do to improve the situation as can't afford a propagator and / or a greenhouse. Last year this worked, so I'm wondering if ARpoet could be right and the compost is to blame, it was inside the house for a week before I used it though, so shouldn't have been too cold. But then again I have my one, random, thriving sweet pea, just to add an air of confusion to the mix! I'll leave them all another couple of weeks and see if anything emerges. I've only planted stuff which says on the packet that you can sow indoors in January. This is new to me, I'm usually not his early, but I got itchy green fingers!

[veggiechicken]

You don't need to keep them on the windowsill, in the light, until they germinate.
Do you pull the curtains, around the front of the chests, trapping the pots on the window side?

I'd do it the other way round. Keep the pots on the room side of the curtains. Drop the blind at night, to insulate the window, tuck the curtains down between the radiator and the window, and keep the heat in the house. Once they germinate, you can think about putting them on the window sill.

[Laney]

Hi Ancee, wow you're so neat!! You should see the state of my soggy newspaper pots in turkey foil trays dotted around the house :-)

I'm moving my trays around the house depending on how the seedlings are doing and what plants they are. The coriander is just flopping wherever I try, but the rest seem to be doing fine. (I'm going to try the "onion" wire hoops for my floppy ones at the weekend, just need some wire!)

I'm a veg newbie but if it were me, I'd try popping some loose clingfilm over yours or cheap sandwich bags to get them going? My trays have all germinated better with a lid over the top.

The £shop down here are selling cake containers with clear lids so I can put any sized seed pots in them, bargain for £1ea. I only have 2 but plan on getting a few more because they work well with any small pots.

My open foil trays have marigolds & comfrey root which don't matter uncovered, they'll grow anyhow.

Best of luck with your seeds, I'm sure they'll get there in the end! :-)

[ancee]

Ah. I see. Good idea VC. I'll pop upstairs now and move them all. That makes sense actually ( I have sense, it just comes in fleetingly!)

[plotman]

I always sow my tomatoes two seeds to a pot first week feb. keep them in airing cupboard for first week watering daily as it drys out there. Soon as they appear, onto window ledge for maximum light. Keep indoors untill there several inches high. then conservatory untill greenhouse is relatively warm at night. Its important that theres always plenty of light and air around them and not to much heat for slow growing.. End result is very stout plants with very thick stems that feeds the masses of tomatoes i enjoy each year. Really, Its only my opinionand experience and I do live in southwest (bit milder than north) but Early sowing and slow growth leads to an abundance of beautiful tomatoes every year )

[ancee]

Laney, thanks, I have some sandwich bags, I'll give that a go. Although if I'd have thought on id have got the lids to go with the tubs. They're curry tubs from the chip shop, wish I'd thought a bit more about my great plan! Plotman, i used to live in Devon where it was milder and I used to have an airing cupboard, but those days are gone! I am hoping for good tomatoes this year, some grapes planted theirs at this time last year, so I thought I'd have a go his year. Mine did come through, but a lot didn't ripen as they ran out of time. Lots of chutney! VC they're all moved, and guess what I have a very tiny sproutling! Perhaps I'm just impatient, me staring at the pots every ten minutes is probably putting them off growing, they don't do it when anybody's watching, and me willing them to sprout isn't working either!

[Scarlet]

I'll stick my oar in too on your next sowing - you may be better sowing in small trays or singularly in trays with small cells. You can then keep these warm, inthe airing cupboard, on top of the fridge etc. when they have sprouted you can move them up to those larger cups and pot them on deeper if they've got a little leggy.